Clear Finish or sealer 100%

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steamshovel

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Oct 2, 2011
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Middleton Idaho 83644-5506 USA
I want a finish or sealer that won't change the color of the wood, Is there anything that will work? Everything I have turns the wood darker. I want to keep the natural color of the wood. This is for pens. I bought the wood from Rocky, it is redwood burl lace.

Preston
 
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monophoto

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Mar 13, 2010
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Saratoga Springs, NY
In my experience, any sealer that you apply will darken the wood to some degree. In addition, some sealers have a natural amber tint that changes the color of the wood. And thirdly, the degree of change depends on whether the sealer is applied as a top coat, or if it is applied as a sealer, and the the turning is sanded with a higher grade of abrasive. Keep in mind that surface gloss can affect the appearance of wood, and sanding to eliminate that gloss can have a dramatic effect. Ultimately, you have to experiment to develop an understanding of how specific finishes affect individual woods.

Two suggestions for you to consider. First, lacquer is essentially colorless. You can thin ordinary brushing lacquer (Deft or Watco) with lacquer thinner to produce a sealer. It will darken the wood slightly, and will enhance the grain. However, if you subsequently sand the item with a high-grade sandpaper to remove any surface gloss caused by the sealer, the 'darkening' effect will be minimized.

Another option is water-based polyurethane. This stuff is colorless - and when applied to very light timbers, it sometimes appear to have a very faint blue cast. But like lacquer, if you apply it as a sealer, allow it to cure, and the sand lightly with a high grit abrasive, you can restore much of the original appearance of the wood.
 

SteveG

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Dec 21, 2009
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Eugene, Oregon 97404
If you would try this, it will help you evaluate whatever finish you might use. Simply wet the bare, unfinished wood with H2O, to emulate the effect of a truly colorless finish. This would then be a basis or standard for judging an actual finish. In my experience, water will commonly leave light colored maple almost unchanged, but will have the effect of 'darkening' many other woods. It is simply the difference between a dry piece of wood and the same piece with a liquid on the surface. Many finishes carry with them some amount of coloration. For lacquers, one common industry term for lacquer that will not impart any color is labeled as "water white". Now, why standard nomenclature for a clear finish has the word "white" in it does not make any sense, but that is what the industry has chosen.
 

leehljp

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Feb 6, 2005
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Tunica, Mississippi,
Oh how I wish this could happen. I will never forget seeing the brilliant colors of green (fresh) walnut just cut - as a kid back in the '50s. And then air dried and sanded. It took me years to figure out (after talking to many people) that wood will change colors with aging, or with applications of finishes, or with oils. That is a fact of life. Finally, I started buying books on wood and on wood finishes back in the '80s and '90s. These books gave technical details on this. I don't do much scroll sawing and intarsia, but one topic that comes up with new intarsia scroll sawers is the subject of natural wood color and how to prevent color change. Bottom line is, you can't. Some can be delayed, but long term, no, - unless dyes or paint are used.

As mentioned, the overall best choice is lacquer, or water based clear poly. Clear oils and some clear waxes will give a different tone to it. It is up to you to try on a sample of wood and choose the one you like best.

I think what would do the closest to what you want is wax. Look for a clear finishing wax, or even Min-Wax. Wax will change its color but as it dries out in a couple of days to a week, it will come the closest to reverting to the original color that you want. The wax will give it "some" protection. Wax is temporary and needs to be repeated every so often. After four or five or so of applications of wax over a few weeks, the wood will stop react to color changing, but it will be darker than the original wood color.
 
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